Valentyna Kolomiiets, Beata Wodecka
Department of Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Wąska 13, 71-415 Szczecin, Poland.
Doctoral School, University of Szczecin, Adama Mickiewicza 16, 70-384 Szczecin, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Dec 25;26(1):58. doi: 10.3390/ijms26010058.
The western European hedgehog () and the northern white-breasted hedgehog () are natural hosts of the tick , the vector of tick-borne pathogens such as the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease. The aim of this study was to identify these pathogens in ticks collected from hedgehogs in northwestern Poland and to assess their genetic diversity by molecular analysis of the detected pathogens based on the gene and the intergenic spacer. Among 101 hedgehogs examined, 737 ticks were found on 56 (55.45%) individuals, including 501 females of . spirochete infection was confirmed in 9 females of (1.8%) obtained from 4 (3.96%) hedgehogs, detecting (8/89%) and (1/11%). Phylogenetic analysis based on the gene and the intergenic spacer showed a lack of diversity in detected in ticks collected from hedgehogs as well as little diversity against reference strains detected in small mammals and ticks collected from them. The results confirm that hedgehogs play an important role in the circulation of the detected spirochete species, at least as hosts of ticks infected with them, indicating their potential to spread spirochetes.
西欧刺猬（）和北方白胸刺猬（）是蜱虫的天然宿主，蜱虫是莱姆病等蜱传病原体的传播媒介，莱姆病由细菌引起。本研究的目的是在从波兰西北部刺猬身上采集的蜱虫中鉴定这些病原体，并通过基于基因和基因间隔区对检测到的病原体进行分子分析来评估其遗传多样性。在检查的101只刺猬中，在56只（55.45%）个体身上发现了737只蜱虫，其中包括501只雌性蜱虫。从4只（3.96%）刺猬身上获取的9只雌性蜱虫（1.8%）中确诊感染了螺旋体，检测到（8/89%）和（1/11%）。基于基因和基因间隔区的系统发育分析表明，从刺猬身上采集的蜱虫中检测到的螺旋体缺乏多样性，并且与从小型哺乳动物及其身上采集的蜱虫中检测到的参考菌株相比，多样性也很少。结果证实，刺猬在检测到的螺旋体物种的传播中起着重要作用，至少作为感染它们的蜱虫的宿主，表明它们有传播螺旋体的潜力。
